Tested: Before Adam Savage watched Blade Runner 2049, he stepped behind the scenes of the film's secretive production and visited the prop department where prop master Doug Harlocker and his team built intricate hand props, weapons, and futuristic wearable devices. Doug walks Adam through the some of these hero and stunt props, including many that you may now recognize.
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I always appreciate Adam Savage’s deep nerdy interests in this kind of tech. Having seen Blade Runner 2049, I have to say I got a little too excited watching this video and being able to identify what character Doug was talking about when referencing certain props. The analog concept he strives to achieve is super impressive for two reasons, one being the sheer ingenuity of his designs being functional and the second being that he has to work with the actors to train them on how the devices actually function and then they work that into their characters. That gives the prop work and acting such an air of legitimacy that you don’t see in many futuristic tech movies these days. This level of dedication to look and style and accessibility must take so many long days and nights to accomplish, especially in the 20 week pre production footprint given to this team.
As the year is going on I am learning that I really like props. With a movie like Blade Runner the props are really important in creating the world of the play. Because the play is set in the future and we have no idea what that world is going to look like, the designers get to make all of the choices for what this world is going to look like. That gives them so much freedom to make whatever they want and really sculpt the world by what they put into it. Props can tell you so much about a character and about a place. The knifes are a good example of this. The sleek feminine one could tell you a lot about the character that wields it. That they are deadly but elegant and sleek. Another thing that this article taught me was the importance of many different versions of the same prop. The best example of this was the mechanical eye scanner. They had one version that has all of the mechanisms that work, another rubber one that moves but no mechanisms, and one that is just the shell. And all of these different versions serve a purpose. And not only do they need multiple versions but they need multiple copies to account for if and when the prop breaks for some reason. I bet that this adds up to a lot of props very quickly. What I want to know from here is if they have a catalogue system in place for this movie that tracks all of the props and all of the different versions and copies.
Having seen Blade Runner: 2049, It is very interesting to take a look behind the scenes, especially in the props department where so much of the effects work is practical and handmade. I thought Blade Runner was incredibly effective at creating a consistent world that still felt deep and greatly varied, and the impeccable props work was no doubt essential to achieving this effect. There's a lot of ways the props in the movie interact and correlate while still feeling distinct, lending weight to the divided factions, characters, and areas in the film. I am always a sucker for movies with great production design, especially those with a strong emphasis on practical props and effects, and Blade Runner was definitely one of the best in that regard I've seen in a while. Because of this inclination, this video was a great watch, and I'm always looking for more examples of cool design work backstage.
Adam Savage has and probably will continue to always amuse me in both his knowledge of film prop and effects technology and also his ability to completely and utterly nerd out on any given subject. Right before he visited the prop department for Blade Runner and prop master Doug Harlocker, Adam made a joke about how he is a huge nerd for all things Blade Runner and you can truely see the barely contained joy that he has while both seeing the various props but also when he is able to actually handle and of them. But what also amused me was the fact that he also had almost as big of nerd out moment talking about the organization and meticulous nature by which Doug Harlocker runs his prop shop.this was a cool video as are most of Adam's videos but this video also reminds me that I need to rewatch blade runner and than see the new one.
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